Official Website of the
Catholic Diocese of Little Rock
Palm Sunday 2016
Published: March 20, 2016
Bishop Anthony B. Taylor preached the following homily at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock on Sunday, March 20, 2016.
Bishop Taylor
Democracy is the best political system only because all the others are worse. Its strength is that we can influence our nation’s decisions, but money is power, power corrupts and people can be mobilized for evil as well as for good.
Public opinion can be manipulated and always ill informed. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the powers-that-be worked to turn public opinion against him for their own political advantage because his teachings threatened their interests. They manipulated the crowds and intimidated his supporters.
On Good Friday it seemed like the powers-that-be had prevailed once again. Not much has changed since. Pick whatever injustice you want, for instance:
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the powers-that-be worked to turn public opinion against him for their own political advantage because his teachings threatened their interests.
1.) Abortion and the God-given right to life, but follow the money trail. Money is power and abortion is a big money maker — each abortion earns the killer far more blood money than the 30 coins Judas got for betraying Jesus.
2.) Immigration and the God-given right to immigrate if circumstances so require — and yet some candidates use immigrants as a scapegoat, using fear to manipulate public opinion for their own political advantage to the detriment of the common good.
I could give you a long list of injustices. And there’s our own personal sin. The light is more powerful than the darkness and Jesus is the light sent by God, to redeem us from all the evils that hold us bond — personally and as a society — starting with our own sins and our own need for forgiveness.
Here too, like on Good Friday, the powers of darkness will not have the last word. Not Satan and all the powers of hell, not those who are responsible for so many injustices in today’s world, and not even our own brokenness and sinfulness as we struggle with the issues in our own lives.
On Calvary the darkness will do its worst, but light is more powerful than darkness. So we who align ourselves with the light will share in Jesus’ victory, even already today.
